The Green Bay Packers had the right to control their restricted and exclusive-rights free agents. That is, so long as they tendered those guys an offer. They decided not to tender cornerback Herb Waters, linebacker Joe Thomas, long snapper Taybor Pepper and punter Jacob Schum.
All four are now unrestricted free agents.
With the exception of Thomas, all of the players mentioned finished the season on injured reserve. Both Waters and Schum spent the entire year there.
So what are the Packers potentially losing? Four undrafted free agents.
Waters was a converted receiver. He showed some promise early on, but had an injured shoulder in 2017 and didn’t even make it through camp.
Thomas started seven games in 2016 and recorded 70 tackles. However, as the Packers transitioned away from their typical base defense in 2017 (and the inside linebacker position), Thomas was an afterthought. He had only 14 tackles last year.
Pepper was brought back after Brett Goode got injured last September. Then he got injured in November and went on injured reserve.
And finally, Schum (Jake Bum) punted for the Packers in 2016. He was released last May after the Packers saw the potential of Justin Vogel. Then, under mysterious circumstances, Schum was brought back and put on injured reserve.
We know the Packers are moving on from Schum. They are likely moving on from Pepper. We’ll see about the other two guys.
It has been normal procedure for the Packers to non-tender controllable free agents in recent years and then re-sign them anyway. The reasoning is, the team is locked into a salary when they tender a free agent. By non-tendering them, they can potentially re-sign them at a lower rate.
In other News, Packers sign Ndamukong Suh.